To build a home
by mieh
Summary: A little glimpse into Darvey's new life in Seattle as they try to find a home.


_She'd been organizing listings and scheduling visits for weeks now. A number of phone calls to realtors and squeezing appointments into his schedule, between meeting one client and another, exactly the right amount of time for a quick trip from the Courthouse to the Upper East Side and back to the firm. So far she hasn't actually gone to any of those visits though._

_Today he calls, tells her his new driver is picking her up downstairs to meet with him at this place. She reminds him he should be coming back by now, that there's a meeting in exactly thirty five minutes, but he tells her to reschedule._

_She had met the driver briefly when he was hired, obviously, but she hasn't actually talked to the guy. He's discreet and polite, just not enough to be able to hide how stunned he is by the redhead when he opens the back door of the shiny new Lexus to her, but that's probably more due to her keen observation skills than his lack of subtlety. She easily engages him in conversation and in the mere twenty minutes it takes them to get to the address where Harvey awaits, she can already tell she really likes this Ray __Benghazi__._

_The building is tall and modern. The elevator rides up fast taking her to the penthouse in a matter of seconds. Her high stilettos make little knocks on the pristine hardwood floors as she goes through the open door, the noise interrupting two voices inside, but not before she can form the slight impression there was some flirting going on in there._

_She makes it into the huge open space of the living room just as Harvey's voice greets her._

"_Hey! You're here!"_

_A tall, blonde woman with a smart dress suit and tight pencil skirt follows behind him, making sure to give Donna her best dental cream commercial smile._

"_So you must be Donna." She extends her hand and greets her nicely. A bit too nicely. "I'm Tracy."_

"_Sure, we spoke on the phone," Donna reminds the woman._

"_Mr. Specter said he was waiting for his secretary to look this over, but now that you're here I think us girls can deal with all the bureaucracy for him and let him go on with more important stuff, right? I mean, men…"_

_Donna has a tight smile frozen on her lips, nodding at the woman's words because she's not wrong - Harvey barely knows his social security number, he most likely can't close the deal without her handling stuff - but what a bitchy way to put it. She makes a conscious effort not to roll her eyes._

"_But like I told you," Harvey interrupts the woman, "I haven't put my foot down yet, so if you could give Donna and I some time, I'd like to show her around the place."_

"_Oh. Of course." The woman startles. "I'd be delighted to give her a tour."_

"_No, that's okay, Tracy, thank you. In fact, if you could just leave us with the key, we'll be sure to leave it at the reception desk when we leave."_

_The smile on the woman's face grows cold and the lump she swallows is visible, clearly disappointed to be dismissed right in the middle of both flirting and closing a huge deal. "Sure. It's been a pleasure Mr. Specter. I'll wait to hear from you. Hope we can do business." She flashes a smile while handing him the keys and leaves the apartment, closing the door on her way out._

.

She feels like they have seen every apartment in Seattle just in the past couple of weeks and it's getting seriously frustrating. It should be easier to find a place in a big city and with money not being a problem, but nothing _feels_ right - which is a pain in the ass of a concept to explain to a realtor but Harvey gets it. Nothing feels like home.

They try to convince them it's all a matter of interior design to make it feel homey, but it's just not the case. They've seen a number of sophisticated apartments with cozy fireplaces that looked amazing, but homey isn't home. They even found a penthouse surrounded by glass that had the most amazing view of the city and in theory would be perfect for them because it had so much in common with their place back in New York, but when they got there it felt like a mockup of the life they had left, an empty model of somewhere they didn't fit in anymore.

They eventually reach the conclusion it can't be all Seattle's fault and they probably have their share of blame in the problem. They had both lived in the same apartments for over a decade, they're both creatures of habit and they had both lived in New York for most of their lives. Neither had ever built a home with someone else. It's a lot of change and they aren't quite sure what they want to be different or to stay the same.

They've been temporarily staying at a rental ever since they got back from their impromptu honeymoon. Donna told Rachel they didn't want to impose on her and Mike, but the truth is Harvey didn't want to start their married life at someone else's house, and neither did she, no matter how much they love those someones.

They had been practically living together in New York and they're more than well accustomed to spending entire days together and still, somehow, this manages to be different. Because now they are husband and wife and have nowhere to go at the end of the day but back to each other's arms. It's a goddamn relief. But they also literally have nowhere else to go until they can find the right place.

They get back from dinner at Mike and Rachel's and Donna's a little drunk on wine and a little cranky because the last topic of conversation that night had been their real estate troubles.

"You know, maybe we could just stay here," she mentions, pulling her sweater over her head while Harvey brushes his teeth.

He thinks she's crazy for a second before spitting the foam and laughing. "Yeah, like you're going to survive much longer without unpacking the rest of your stuff."

It's not that the place is small, she just has a lot of stuff.

"Oh, okay mister I Have Two Suits For Each Day Of The Month."

He pulls a tshirt over his bare chest and goes to wait for her in bed.

"I'm just so tired of looking," she mentions, joining him under the covers and sliding a leg on top of his, his hand automatically smoothing over her skin to rest at the back of her knee. "I just want to go to sleep at our house already."

It's a general term she uses but, _goddam_, he feels really stupid for not having considered that before.

.

"_What?" Harvey asks defensively when he turns back to face Donna's raised brows and teasing smirk. She's standing there holding her purse with both hands in front of her body and clearly ready to fire._

"_Business isn't all she seems to want to do."_

_He grants her a smug smile and shrugs, "Yeah, but you know me: work before play."_

"_Oh, so you do know the right order."_

"_Do you wanna go back to the office?" he deadpans._

"_I don't even know what I'm doing here!"_

"_What do you mean what you're doing here? You're checking out the apartment." He flaps his arms around as if that's obvious._

"_You do realize I've seen all the pictures before scheduling a visit for you, right?"_

"_Which is not the same as seeing it in person or you wouldn't even have had to schedule a visit in the first place," he says as she rolls her eyes and then holds her by the crook of her elbow, giving a little tug in the right direction. "Come on, I'll show you around."_

_There's not that much around to be shown seeing as the place is completely open space and from where they are she can see all the way inside the bedroom. Still she follows him around to the kitchen, opening a few cabinets to be inspected, and to the corner of the living room, where she points out he could make a nice little office space and he seems pleased with the idea._

_He shows her to the room beside the fireplace, mentioning he's thinking of making it a TV room, and to the light openness of the huge bedroom to which she makes a joke about the amount of curtains he's going to need to get but he can see the approval in her eyes. They both agree the bathroom needs a little renovation just to make it more manly and then they go back around to the bedroom, opening the glass doors and going out onto the balcony that circles the entire penthouse._

_._

Donna wakes up the next morning to an empty bed, but a fresh pot of coffee waiting for her in the coffee maker. She texts Harvey good morning and he replies, but when she gets to the clinic neither him or Mike are there and Rachel swears she doesn't have any idea where they went.

Harvey goes from teasingly mysterious to unreachable throughout the day until she leaves work late that afternoon to find him waiting for her by the sidewalk, leaning against the car. He looks exhausted but satisfied, a glint in his eyes and a smile on his lips.

She tilts her head when she approaches him, trying to decipher his expression.

"Hey," she greets softly when he places both hands on her waist, pulling her against his body. "Where have you been?"

His smile widens before he presses it against her lips, lingering there and pecking her mouth again before he moves to open the door.

"Let's go. I'm taking you home."

It's the way he says it. It's the twitch in his jaw and the look on his face. She knows it even before he doesn't take the turn he's supposed to that they're not just driving the thirty minute way to their current place.

.

_It's the beginning of fall and the air is getting crisp and chilly, but the 4PM sun shines brightly, warming them up a bit even through the wind that blows around them, making a little strand of hair stick to her lip gloss before she tucks it behind her ear, leaning her elbows against the balcony rails._

_The trees are so far below them, all they can really see is an indistinct stain of greens and oranges like an impressionistic painting, dancing lightly to the breeze and the sound of the traffic that can't quite reach them up there. There's a ray of sun shining right at the side of her face, which makes her hair glow bright orange when he leans beside her, squinting a little when the stream of light hits his pupil._

"_So…" he nudges. "What do you think?"_

"_I think it's the perfect bachelor pad. I mean, you could fit fifty bachelors in here…" he gives her a little shove with his elbow, rolling his eyes, and she chuckles before finishing the thought, "but it's pretty great." _

_He smiles happily. "You think so?"_

"_I do. I told you it was good when I sent you the details, you didn't need to give me a tour."_

"_Like I'm gonna make well over a million dollar purchase without your full report. You'd never let me hear the end of it."_

_Donna frowns at him for just a second before bursting out laughing. "You mean you don't have the balls to spend a shit ton of money without my full report?"_

"_Do you like the car you drove here this afternoon?" he asks with sarcasm, because she hadn't heard a single thing about the car until it was a done deal._

"_I do. It's also not a millionaire penthouse."_

_He pouts and gives her a side eye before giving up on what's clearly a lost battle. Eventually he just smiles. "You're my first guest!"_

"_Something tells me you're going to have plenty of 'guests_'_ in here after me," she wiggles her brows in a suggestive way. _

"_You're obvious."_

_She shrugs, getting back inside the apartment. "So are you, with the million dollar girl magnet."_

"_Like I need that," he dismisses, following her back inside. "Besides, if they get here to see this…"_

.

He's so excited it's intoxicating, but he refuses to say anything. He laces his fingers between hers and kisses her knuckles and insists she tells him every detail about her entirely uneventful day at the clinic while he drives out of the city.

They grow silent as he drives up a hill just outside of town. Harvey doesn't stop stealing glances at her so he spots the exact moment she first sees it.

He has enough time to round the car and open the door to her because she's still frozen in place, blinking up at the house. They walk hand in hand as he guides her for the first time to what's possibly the rest of their lives.

The house is two stories high. White brick walls, dark rooftops and huge glass windows framed in shiny black that bleed out the warm light from inside. It seems like every room is lit up, waiting for them. Tall trees and flower patches surround the place and there's a wooden bench on the front porch where she instantaneously pictures herself and Harvey sitting together on a Sunday morning, under a blanket, having coffee and watching the rain pour.

It's instantaneous like that.

"Harvey…" she can all but mumble.

"Look." He smiles proudly, tugging her hand to turn her to look back. From the doorstep they get a view of the entire lit up city down the hill. Thousands of little yellow lights flickering way below them. A hell of a view - like they had in New York, but also not at all.

"Come on, let me show you inside."

He leads her through the beautiful living room downstairs, their footsteps on the shiny hardwood echoing in the empty space. You could fill a lifetime inside those walls. They roam to the white marbled kitchen, with its white cabinets and modern chandeliers hanging from the ceilings. Everything opens up to a living area around a fireplace with actual wooden logs in it, leading to the backyard, full of comfortable sittings spread around the grass and a lit up swimming pool surrounded by greenery.

Upstairs, Donna leans against the balcony rail of the master bedroom, the whole of Seattle lights to her back and Harvey's arms around her, holding on to the rail with knuckles and an expectant look on his face, searching her eyes.

"So…?" He finally asks, an undisguised tone of anticipation that makes her chuckle nervously.

She bites her bottom lip. "You know it's big."

Harvey only shrugs. All mansions are.

"And it's far from the office."

He has a feeling she's circling to say what she really wants to, but he goes with it anyway. "Yeah, but we'd still get home earlier than we're used to. We've only been looking at apartments in the city all this time, we never even considered a house, and when you said it last night I-"

"Did I?"

He nods and smirks. "You said you just wanted to go to sleep at _our house_."

"Oh, so I can take credit for this?" Donna asks, her eyes mockingly wide.

"So you like it?" He smiles brightly looking suddenly twenty years younger.

She breathes in slowly and shaking, completely overwhelmed by the greatness of it all. "Harvey… This is- it's just... It's everything."

He kisses her then, pressing his lips to hers and squeezing her waist in excitement, happiness making his skin prickle.

When she parts from the kiss she hesitates, choosing her next words while her fingers roam around the back of his neck. "But. You know... there are a lot of bedrooms in here."

His arms tense around her, eyes growing wide.

"That doesn't mean-"

She raises an eyebrow to interrupt what they both know to be his favorite deflection line.

He chuckles a bit nervously, running a hand over the back of his head before he breathes in to settle himself and moves the last step closer to her, his hand softly tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"It's not a ploy, Donna" he starts teasingly. "I just like the house. You can fill all the rooms with Theater pamplet for all I care about. But... now that you mention it," he gives her a little smile then, which she can't help but mirror, "it's nice to know we have them in case we ever want to fill them with something... else. Someday."

He watches her lip quiver for only a second or two as a little gasp escapes from her mouth, but before he can worry about her answer a smile slowly spreads over her lips and she nods softly, eyes glazing over.

"Someday," she says simply.

It's a conversation they don't need that many words to have. A conversation he feels like they started having the second they both met little Lucy Litt, of all people. But forever is a long time coming and they're not running to this particular mark.

He smiles and nods slowly, overtaken by her single word and by a tightness in his chest. It shouldn't surprise him that they're on the same page about this too, and it doesn't, but feeling so happy and lucky all the damn time is making him soft, he knows it is.

He takes her face in his hands, thumbs stroking her cheeks. "Is this it? Are we finally home?"

"We are," she smiles brightly. "You haven't actually bought it yet though, have you?"

"Donna, I didn't make this kind of decision without you when you weren't my wife and I'm not about to start now."

She laughs heartily, a wave of nostalgia taking over her. They've been through such a long way to get here, and luckily they've been together for the entire road, but it's nice to finally be home.

.

"_Maybe I should get you a key," he mentions, opening the fridge and getting them two bottles of water._

"_Why would I want a key?"_

"_It could be useful, you know, if I need you to drop something off, booty-calls, you know, regular stuff."_

_She bites the corner of her lips to keep from laughing. "If you think I'm picking up your dry cleaning you've gone insane, Specter."_

_._

* * *

AN: They are home :) And I am rusty! I haven't written in so long, but I really miss them so I hope this little glimpse into their new life, with Suits-style little flashbacks, was still somewhat nice to read.

As I finish this I am told a Seattle house probably wouldn't have a pool? This is a disgrace, take them back to New York hahahaha But anyways, they're rich. Let's just imagine the pool is heated.

Thank you for reading and thank you to Blue, whom I really worked for her inexistent beta money on this one.

As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts.


End file.
